By Elena Vardon
Hiscox, the specialist insurer, has announced impressive financial results for the first half of the year. Driven by improvements in its insurance service and investments, as well as higher bond reinvestment yields, the company reported a pretax profit of $264.8 million under the new accounting standard, IFRS 17. This is a significant increase compared to the restated pretax profit of $25.4 million for the same period last year.
During this period, Hiscox witnessed a growth in insurance contract written premiums, which rose to $2.72 billion from $2.62 billion. Additionally, net insurance contract written premiums increased by 11% at constant currency to $1.95 billion, benefiting from a positive rate environment.
The London-listed group’s undiscounted combined ratio, a measure of costs compared to revenue, improved to 90.2% from 92.7% in the first half of 2022.
Furthermore, Hiscox declared a dividend of 12.5 cents per share, reflecting its commitment to delivering value to its shareholders.
Looking ahead, Hiscox expects its retail business’s full-year growth to align with the half-year trend, while its London Market business is predicted to maintain its current trajectory. In the Re & ILS division, the company anticipates a larger share of premiums written in the first half to be earned in the second half of the year.
